Breakdown of Acaban de limpiar el vagón para el viaje largo.
para
for / in order to (+ infinitive) / by (a deadline)
limpiar
to clean
el viaje
the trip
largo
long
acabar
to finish (or to have just + infinitive)
de
linking word before an infinitive (after 'to have just')
el vagón
the carriage
Questions & Answers about Acaban de limpiar el vagón para el viaje largo.
Why does the sentence use acaban de limpiar to mean 'they have just cleaned'?
The verb acabar literally means 'to finish', but when you use the formula acabar de plus an infinitive (like limpiar), it means someone has just done something. This is the most natural way in Spanish to express an action that happened moments ago.
Why do we use para instead of por for 'for the long trip'?
We use para here because it expresses the purpose of an action. The carriage was cleaned in preparation for the trip. A helpful trick is that if you can replace 'for' with 'for the purpose of' in English, you generally need para.
Does el vagón only mean a train carriage?
In everyday Spanish in Spain, el vagón is the standard word for a passenger train carriage or a subway car. It can also mean a freight wagon, but the context of a trip makes it clear you are talking about passenger cars.
Could I say el largo viaje instead of el viaje largo?
How would I use the grammar from this lesson to wish someone a good trip?
To make a well-wish, you use que plus the present subjunctive. For example, you could say ¡Que tengáis un buen viaje! (Have a good trip!). Our example sentence simply states a fact, which is why it uses the normal indicative tense instead of the subjunctive.
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